Chord Electronics Qutest DAC - Official Thread

[Zzt231gr]

Maybe Mr. Rob could chime in for an express help...

 

[Rob Watts]

Having spent an hour or so listening this afternoon ,I have just walked past my system, and noticed my Qutest with all lights flashing.
Disconnecting the power supply and re-connecting has reset it, but i cannot find any reference to why it has happened- any ideas or info gratefully received.

Flashing lights indicates failure of authorisation - the device is authorised at power-up by checking the FPGA unique DNA with a unique programmed 512 bit encryption key. I suspect what has happened is that power has been interrupted, and its either corrupted the FPGA, or the boot sequence was incorrect with a poor internal reset due to the power going off/coming back on. I have never seen this before, but for sure don't worry about it - disconnecting power and re-applying will ensure a correct booting up.

Maybe Mr. Rob could chime in for an express help...

No need, the Chord support team are very good - I have often seen them bending over backwards to help. But in this instance there is nothing wrong...

 

[Zzt231gr]

^^You are the man!

 

[jwbrent]

Now that I have plenty of run-in time on my Qutest, one area of note is it’s bass performance. I’m completely surprised how much better my Raidho XT-1s sound reproducing low frequencies.

Has anyone else found this to be true in their experience?

I’ve mentioned this before, but the overall sound of the Qutest is grain free, just a liquid presentation of the upper registers using the white filter. In contrast, when I owned the Hugo, I found its sound to be bright, overbearingly so at times, with a granular reproduction of the trebles.

I’m a very happy Qutest owner, and strongly recommend it to others looking for a high capability DAC under 2K.

 

[dawktah2]

Now that I have plenty of run-in time on my Qutest, one area of note is it’s bass performance. I’m completely surprised how much better my Raidho XT-1s sound reproducing low frequencies.

Has anyone else found this to be true in their experience?

I’ve mentioned this before, but the overall sound of the Qutest is grain free, just a liquid presentation of the upper registers using the white filter. In contrast, when I owned the Hugo, I found its sound to be bright, overbearingly so at times, with a granular reproduction of the trebles.

I’m a very happy Qutest owner, and strongly recommend it to others looking for a high capability DAC under 2K.

Yes, I have noticed the lower end seems extended. Sounds deeper and compared to previous devices.

 

[rhern213]

No need, the Chord support team are very good - I have often seen them bending over backwards to help. But in this instance there is nothing wrong...

Hi Rob, hoping to get some insight from you, on the Qutest is there anything inherent in the design of the output ports between USB/COAX/Optical that should make either one a more real natural sounding option?

Reason I'm asking is I can hear a difference between using each of the outputs, to me the Optical sounds the smoothest and softest, USB in between the 3, and COAX the brightest/impactfull of all.

I can't make up my mind on which I prefer, it differs with certain tracks but I'm obviously not going to be switching ports all the time. So I was hoping to find out if there's a technical reason for one of the ports to reproduce a more realistic sound than the others?

Thanks!

 

[Zzt231gr]

Now that I have plenty of run-in time on my Qutest, one area of note is it’s bass performance. I’m completely surprised how much better my Raidho XT-1s sound reproducing low frequencies.

Has anyone else found this to be true in their experience?

I’ve mentioned this before, but the overall sound of the Qutest is grain free, just a liquid presentation of the upper registers using the white filter. In contrast, when I owned the Hugo, I found its sound to be bright, overbearingly so at times, with a granular reproduction of the trebles.

I’m a very happy Qutest owner, and strongly recommend it to others looking for a high capability DAC under 2K.

Yes, I have noticed the lower end seems extended. Sounds deeper and compared to previous devices.

I haven't noticed it to be more extended but it is more free flowing and analytical.It was obvious from the first listening,especially with double bass chords!

 

[Rob Watts]

Hi Rob, hoping to get some insight from you, on the Qutest is there anything inherent in the design of the output ports between USB/COAX/Optical that should make either one a more real natural sounding option?

Reason I'm asking is I can hear a difference between using each of the outputs, to me the Optical sounds the smoothest and softest, USB in between the 3, and COAX the brightest/impactfull of all.

I can't make up my mind on which I prefer, it differs with certain tracks but I'm obviously not going to be switching ports all the time. So I was hoping to find out if there's a technical reason for one of the ports to reproduce a more realistic sound than the others?

Thanks!

On Hugo 2 optical sounds the same as USB - and this is via headphones, so no ground loop from the source, and hence no ground currents. It changes as soon as you ground the connection, which normally happens with Qutest, as you will connect an amp on the outputs. Now to reduce the ground currents (RF noise into the ground plane of the DAC) I use galvanic isolation and RF filters - but it's not possible to totally eliminate the issue. If you use a low power, simple source, then USB sounds the same as optical (particularly with battery powered sources), so use the optical as your benchmark. To do the listening tests correctly you need to disconnect all other sources. Coax has no galvanic isolation, and direct coupling to the grounds, so will always be the brighter sounding input.

The reason it sounds brighter is RF noise when interfering with analogue creates more noise floor modulation, which makes it sound brighter.

 

[Zzt231gr]

So,would you suggest connecting my cd transport through optical and not coaxial?

 

[Rob Watts]

Yes!

 

[Zzt231gr]

Yes!

Can you please tell me what difference to expect to hear between those two inputs,to make a comparison listening test?

 

[Rob Watts]

Optical is warmer and smoother, due to the complete galvanic isolation. USB comes close, sometimes identical to optical. But Coax I can't put RF filtering in without degrading lock abilities.

 

[Zzt231gr]

Optical is warmer and smoother, due to the complete galvanic isolation. USB comes close, sometimes identical to optical. But Coax I can't put RF filtering in without degrading lock abilities.

So,you are saying that CD transports transfer noise through coax output which degrades the digital signal,hence optical is as real sounding as possible?

 

[Rob Watts]

Yes. The only way SQ can be impaired is via RF noise connected via the ground, and optical does not suffer from this problem. Source jitter is not an issue with my DACs.

 

[Lodwales81]

I was under the impression that optical was the last resort for audio connection, at the moment I run a USB from my mac pro to my qutest dac but changing to optical could bring an improvement?